Sunday, August 16, 2015

Update: 20 Minutes has confirmed (Aug. 15) that the festival caved in to strong pressures and has cancelled Matisyahu's performance. The BDS campaigners are gloating about the decision. The American reggea rapper will be replaced by Jamaican musician Etana. No solidarity shown for the Jewish musician... Article in Spanishhere. and in Hebrew here.

FIVE
artists have boycotted the famous Rototom Sunsplash Reggae Festival in
Benicàssim (Castellón province) after finding out the Jewish band
Matisyahu would be playing, since they object to the front man's views
on the Palestine-Israel conflict.

Three
participants in the Social Forum area – association Pallasos en
Rebeldía, María Carrión from the group FiSahara and Saharan activist
Hassanna Aalia - cinema director at the Film Festival part of the
Rototom, Fernando García-Guereta, and an artist from the Showcase music
area, Saharan rapper Yslem Son of the Desert, have pulled out.

They
are all members of the Boycott, Non-Investment and Sanctions for Israel
pressure group based in the Comunidad Valenciana and have written an
open letter to other artists taking part in the festival on Saturday,
August 22, calling for them to 'reconsider'.

Matisyahu,
fronted by the American-Israeli artist of the same name, 'has taken
part in pro-Sionist festivals', has 'publicly stated he is on Israel's
side' and that 'Palestine does not exist', according to the campaigners.

Another reason for their decision to boycott the festival is the airing of the documentary Congo beat the drum,
starring two musicians from Tel Aviv, since the show had 'benefited
from advertising by the Sionist State' and from an award at the
Jerusalem Film Festival, which had been financed by the State of Israel.

“We
need to boycott the Israeli strategy of using arts and entertainment to
whitewash the ethnic cleansing of the people of Palestine and present
an abhorrent situation in legal and human rights terms as 'normal',” the
association's open letter reads.

Rototom
Sunsplash organisers responded publicly via the festival's Facebook
site, saying the event has 'a 22-year history of respecting peace,
justice and human rights' and of 'encouraging dialogue as the best way
of resolving conflict'.

They say they condemn 'anyone who brings with them messages of intolerance, hatred or violence'.

“We
have never invited anyone to the festival who intends to spread hate
messages, and this criteria has been used in exactly the same way when
inviting Matisyahu here.

“In light of the controversy, we have contacted Matisyahu to find out his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict and on Sionism.

“His
response was very patent, given that he has never been a political
activist and does not bring his personal views to his performances or
song lyrics. Read more.